Madam Speaker, we have a great deal of sympathy for the people of Iraq and the issue is about the tragedy taking place there. Our hearts go out to the people of that country who have been abused far too long by a thuggish, violent, illegal and brutal leader named Saddam Hussein. This is all about Saddam Hussein. It is not about the people of Iraq who have suffered far too long.
I say to the member for Burnaby—Douglas that while we have a great deal of sympathy for his motion it is naive. It detracts from the issue which is about dealing with a violent thug called Saddam Hussein.
In his speech the member for Burnaby—Douglas spent far more time bashing the United States than dealing with the thug Saddam Hussein. He spent a good chunk of his time U.S.A. bashing and not enough time dealing with the major antagonist. That says a lot about the member and where he is coming from on the issue.
However let us talk about the issue at hand. Saddam Hussein has caused the brutal deaths of thousands of his people through torture and summary execution by his own hand and the hands of others. One and a half million Iraqi civilians have died since 1991. According to UNICEF, 600,000 of them were under five years of age. Every month 4,500 children die. Maternal mortality rates are up and have more than doubled since 1991. Child malnourishment has increased by more than 300% since 1991. Hospitals, water and the education system are in disarray. Why?
As the hon. member from the government mentioned, Iraq can sell as much oil as it wants for food. There are more than 660 things the government can do with no problems whatsoever.
People need education, infrastructure development and humanitarian supplies in order to live. Why are the conditions on the ground not improving? They are not improving because Saddam Hussein is using his own people as pawns in a brutal political struggle. He is prepared to kill his own people in an effort to break these sanctions and to rub the nose of the west in the ground. Saddam Hussein is the rogue. He is the one who is brutalizing his own people and standing in the way of prosperity, peace and security for the people of Iraq.
It is interesting to look at the situation in northern Iraq where there is a no fly zone, as there is in the south. The no fly zone in the north was meant to protect the Kurds. Why? It was because Saddam Hussein murdered Kurds using chemical and biological weapons. That says a lot about the person. It says that we are dealing with an individual who is prepared, at a whim, to violate the basic norms of international respect and international law for his own end. He is prepared to kill and murder his own people with brutal chemical and biological weapons. We all saw pictures on television of what happened to those Kurds.
Saddam Hussein is also trying to murder, and has murdered, the marsh Arabs in the south. Those people have lived there for thousands of years and do not want to harm anybody but he has sent his people in with tanks. He has murdered these people, destroyed their environment and has tried to drive them out of their homes. Saddam Hussein is the one killing the Iraqi people, not the west, not the United Nations and not Canada.
What the hon. member for Burnaby—Douglas should be doing is using his efforts to tell the Iraqi regime that we will not tolerate that any more. All that Saddam Hussein has to do is to allow the weapons inspectors to enter his country. He only has to co-operate with the security council resolutions and the international community, and we would be happy to work with his people to improve their health and welfare.
We want the children of Iraq to be educated and the babies to be healthy. We do not want to see the children of Iraq die from malnutrition. It is Saddam Hussein who can change that, and change it overnight. The power to improve the health and welfare of the Iraqi people rests in his hands.
I am not confident, and I do not believe that anybody in the House is, that he will do that. However, what would happen if we were to immediately drop those sanctions? Can we trust Saddam Hussein to respect international law and to treat his people well? The fact of the matter is that he is obstructing what is going on in his country.
It is interesting to note that Saddam Hussein, while his people are starving, has built over 42 palatial palaces for himself and his cronies with money that should have been used to feed and educate the children and improve the water supply. Why is he not using the $3 billion that he held in a UN escrow account for water, agriculture and industrial production, as well as for improving the infrastructure in the country? The facts speak for themselves.
We have imposed those sanctions with a heavy heart. We do not want them to continue. As Kofi Annan said, they are a temporary measure. When the regime in Iraq complies with international law and allows UN inspectors to enter the country unfettered, and when it co-operates with the international community, we will co-operate too. It is not only for the international community at large but also for the regional security.
Why is it that at the last Arab summit, and where better to find co-operation or sympathy for Saddam Hussein, Arab leaders gave only muted and lukewarm support to the lifting of sanctions? The reason they did that was that they feared for their security.
The invasion of Kuwait by Iraq was a graphic example of how this individual is prepared to be a security threat in the Middle East. Why is it that his fellow Arab leaders look upon him as a thug and a bully? Do they embrace him? No, they fear him because he is unpredictable, violent and willing to abuse people in his own backyard for his own political gain.
It is sad that he has been able to secure greater control in his country. We would support other countries in supporting the opposition forces in Iraq. Unfortunately his secret security forces have a greater control and a greater hammerlock on the people. They pick people off the street who later disappear. They have been doing that for a very long time. It is a reign of terror.
We cannot imagine the tragedy that the people of Iraq have endured for so long. To the people of Iraq we say that we want them to thrive, prosper and live in peace. Their leader has to either change or he has to comply with the basic norms of international security. We do this for the people of Iraq and for ourselves. We do this for basic human rights and for peace.
I hope the member for Burnaby—Douglas can approach the issue in a pragmatic way to fulfil the basic needs and improve the health and welfare of the people of Iraq. I hope he invests a lot more time in shooting his barrels off at Saddam Hussein than at the United States of America.